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Persons of standing recommending London police recruits
(1843-1857)The Metropolitan Police Register of Joiners (MEPO 4/334) lists policemen joining the force 1 January 1843 to 1 April 1857 (warrant numbers 19893 to 35804). The register is alphabetical, in so far as the recruits are listed chronologically grouped under first letter of surname. It gives Date of Appointment, Name, Number of Warrant, Cause of Removal from Force (resigned, dismissed, promoted or died), and Date of Removal. Although the register was closed for new entrants at the end of 1842, the details of removals were always recorded, some being twenty or more years later. Those recruits not formerly in the police, the army, or some government department, were required to provide (normally) at least two letters of recommendation from persons of standing, and details of these are entered on the facing pages. Where a recruit was only recently arrived in the metropolis, the names and addresses of the recommenders can be invaluable for tracing where he came from. Those recruits not formerly in the police, the army, or some government department, were required to provide (normally) at least two letters of recommendation from persons of standing, and details of these are entered on the facing pages: the names in these are indexed here (the police recruits are indexed separately and not included here). Recruits transferred from other forces or rejoining the force did not normally need recommendations - in the latter case, former warrant numbers are given - but some recommendations are from police inspectors, even other constables. Recruits coming from the army sometimes have general military certificates of good conduct, but most often have a letter from their former commanding officer; recruits recommended by government departments (most often the Home Office) similarly have letters from the head of department. But the great majority of the names and addresses in these pages are of respectable citizens having some sort of personal acquaintance with the recruit. Where more than two recommendations were provided, the clerk would only record one or two, with the words 'and others'. Tradesmen are sometimes identified as such by their occupations; there are some gentry. Although the bulk of these names are from London and the home counties, a scattering are from further afield throughout Britain and Ireland.